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General discussion

Cellphones and International Travelers

by JAKLMartinez Aug 31, 2013 3:35PM PDT

In looking at market trends globally BlackBerry sales are almost non-existant compared to Android/iOS devices. (Samsung 76M, iOS 32M, BlackBerry 9M (Note: 6M of the BlackBerry's sold were previous gen, they only sold around 3M of the Z10's)) Yet it seams that when it comes to E-mail data no one can compete with BlackBerry and a BES.

My question is, what are major companies in the world doing when it comes to mobile devices and international travelers? Especially when the US is not your home base. Example: I am in Germany and I travel around Europe. Or I am in Canada, and I travel around Canada...etc. Android/iOS devices get hammered with roaming, while BlackBerry does not because of the BES.

It seems that if you are based out of the US, Verizon has a good International package (not as good as BB and BES). But, what about those that are based outside of the US?

Any advice, thoughts and/or ideas would be great. What are major global companies doing? If BlackBerry and the BES are really that great, why is it suffering in the market place. I can understand from a personal device choice why it suffers, but from a business perspective you would think they would have the market.

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Why do you assert that Android/iOS devices...
by Pepe7 Sep 2, 2013 2:45AM PDT

..."get hammered when roaming" (?) Most of my friends/family who work for large companies either have a second unlocked handset/use prepaid int'l SIMs, or stick to wifi. They don't seem to report many problems as you seem to imply.

BB got punched when everyone else started incorporating the entertainment-related options into their smartphones. They fell behind since that's where the marketplace was heading. IMO their new phones are quite nice, but they are too far behind to be relevant since folks have already moved on for the most part. If I'm not mistaken, the BB10 platform does not offer BIS, so that's probably a moot point, forcing many folks to simply hop on the prepaid data bus or standard smartphone data plans.

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I do not know first hand...
by JAKLMartinez Sep 2, 2013 4:56AM PDT

...but it is what I have heard from several individuals in Europe and Canada both.

I am very interested to hear about the int'l SIMs and unlocked phones. The people providing the most feed back are sales rep's out in the field. So there is very little if any WiFi to jump on. But, and unlocked phone with a local SIM may be the ticket.

How does that work? Is the phone considered rooted/jailbroken if its unlocked? Our company enforces an MDM solution that will detect rooted/jailbroken phones and wipe them of any company data.

How do you get a hold of the SIM cards? Can you purchase them through cellular providers in those local countries? (Vodafone, Swiss Mobile...etc.)

Also, BES10 is available for the new Z10/Q10 devices, and so are the premium data packages from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile (those are the ones I have contacted about it so far)

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Jailbroken is not the same as unlocked
by Pepe7 Sep 3, 2013 3:50AM PDT

Unlocked simply means you can use another carrier's SIM/service. Jailbroken means you can load unauthorized software/apps/services that are not possible (normally) w/ the carrier loaded/approved ROM.

Most companies could give two hoots if you use an unlocked phone though. Head over to the various sub-forums @ howardforums.com for more info. There are individuals there who do support larger groups of business users too.

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business
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 2, 2013 2:49AM PDT

As this is a business I suggest you stay out of consumer forums and contact the business arms of the carriers. I know from experience that Sprint, Verizon, ATT and other names (ones I met with in Canada) all have deals and plans for the business owners.

That's where you get your best deals for your staff and fleet.
Bob

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Thanks
by JAKLMartinez Sep 2, 2013 4:57AM PDT

Thanks for your post. I will follow up with the providers in each of the countries I am interested in.

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